#Another long piece of writing...

[keiscorner]

2:53 am

"kei." no response. you know tsukishima has to get up early for work, but the window across from your bed is open, allowing the night breeze to creep in and sting your face. you could get up yourself, but that's what husbands are for, right?

you twist around, trying to wiggle out of your husband's grasp so you can take a better look at his sleeping face. he has an arm wrapped firmly around your waist, the other supporting your neck to, in his words, 'protect his ears from your constant complaints about your sore neck in the morning'.

"honey?" you poke his cheek, smiling to yourself when he grunts in response. tsukishima has always been a light sleeper. you lay in silence for a few seconds before he finally lets out a sigh, opening his eyes to look at you.

"what do you want?"

you muster up your biggest doe eyes, knowing that he hates getting out of bed just as much as you do. "close the window for me?"

"no. you do it."

you sigh dramatically, gesturing at his arms wrapped firmly around you. "i would love to, but someone is holding me hostage, so i think you're going to have to do it."

tsukishima rolls his eyes, untangling his arms from your body. "problem solved." he holds back a smile when you frown and pull the blankets away from him, turning your back towards him. you're so cute. tsukishima would do anything you ask of him without hesitation, but he can't help but tease you a bit first. he'll never get tired of your reactions, and he loves that he can be a little snarky with you.

you sigh again, this time louder and more pointed, pretending to shiver just to show your husband how cold you really are, and how cruel he is for not helping. "if only someone could hold me right now...", you trailed off.

"ok, do you want me to help you or not?" he finally gives in, getting up to reach for his glasses. you win, as usual. you turn back to face him again with a smile as bright as sunshine, and despite all of the years you've been together, his heart still stops for a second. wow. okay, maybe he is obsessed with you, but he can't help it. you've clearly worked your magic on him, considering the fact that he's getting out of the bed for you when he has to be awake in a few hours. he goes to close the windows with a firm click, walking back to his side of bed.

"kei...since you're already up...", he looks back to see your guilty smile, an empty mug in your hands. "please? last thing, i swear." he give you a look that reads, "you're lucky i love you." (you know you're the luckiest person in the world.)

he takes your mug and you hear his quiet footsteps making their way to the kitchen. he comes back, handing you a mug full of warm water. once you take a sip, he takes the mug from you again, placing it on your nightstand.

"i poisoned that," he quips, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead before finally lying down and snaking his arms around your waist, pulling you in closer to him. the only reason he hates getting out of bed is that he has to let go of you, but he doesn't need to say that. he's sure you already know.

[luminique]

HEAR ME OUT, one sided love?? Imagine s/o doesn’t like lighter back, being oblivious about lighters feeling and only see lighter as a friend meanwhile lighter is so MADLY in love with them and is aware of s/o not liking him back but he can’t help it because you’re the only one that makes him feel this way even if his feelings aren’t reciprocated… they’re so doomed think about the potential angst!! 🫤

lighter isn’t perfect. his body is littered in scars of his past, his actions are solutions to mistakes he had made before. to say that he deserved something as rewarding as love didn’t sound right to him, but oh, would it feel right if it was from you.

it was definitely not an immediate fall, rather it was slower like starting a fire. you bring the materials you require, some wood and a starter. it’s difficult to get a fire going, even he knows that with his lighter in hand. his hand gets warmer the longer the flame is out but it doesn’t compare to the accidental grazes of your hand against his gloved ones.

he had poked you once with the spikes on his gloves. the look on your face when you brought your hand up to rub it while you apologized for it. why were you apologizing? every soft “sorry” that came out of your mouth was like sprinkling water onto the fire. best to get fresh firewood so that it doesn’t go out.

ensuring that the fire is a consistent flame is also important to prevent accidents. accidents like playfully taking off his sunglasses and putting it on yourself while imitating him. somehow, that didn’t cause the fire to go out, in fact, it made it burn even brighter than before. the redness on his face when he watched you was comparable to the orange and red hues of a fire.

he stayed close to the fire, close to you. feeling the warmth of love on his skin, finding it calming but also terrifying. it doesn’t rain often in the outer ring but that doesn’t stop him from worrying that it would all of a sudden. so he lies awake at night, thinking about all of the possibilities, the what ifs and its outcomes.

he thought he had considered everything. from keeping the fire from going out, to ensuring it was a stable flame, to tending it slowly and carefully. what he didn’t consider was getting too close to the fire, burning through what he thought was tough skin.

he was too focused on trying to maintain a certain personality, not quite showing his interest in you. so when caesar was talking to you about her love stories while everyone was hanging around the bar, his heart rate increased. just like how consuming alcohol affects one’s mental and physical state, so does it affect a fire. maybe someone poured his drink into the flames as he watched it burn even brighter than before, making him eavesdrop on your conversation.

but a large flame meant a higher possibility of getting burnt, and soon he saw the burn marks on his skin. as you continued to talk with caesar, the longer he let the fire burn him. how you had said that real love wasn’t like the stories, how you seemed disinterested in romance, how you had believed that no one was interested in you. at that moment, he ended up getting more drinks from burnice, hoping it would soothe the roaring flames within him. he drank so much and fell asleep to the soft crackling of the fire, your voice acting as background noise.

he woke up to the coldness of the bar counter pressing on his cheek. the fire had been put out by you when you tapped on his shoulder. the memories of last night flooding into his mind like water. maybe it was all some nightmare and you did like him back, but the sudden coolness of your touch made him realize the reality of it all.

you didn’t like him, and not because he did anything wrong but because he didn’t do anything in your eyes. you were feeding the fire in his heart and he mistook that fire for your heart too. he sat up straight, took one look at you and shook his head. you still cared for him, came with water and woke him up gently. he never intended to get so severely injured because of his own growing feelings for you.

his own feelings, you didn’t even know he had any for you. the pile of ashes, you both stared at it and yet only he knew that fire existed. the flames had misled him, danced around his heart that craved for you, that only asked for you as its fuel. now all he can do was sit next to what was once a big fire, feeling the cold on his skin despite the layers. no warmth left, no light left, no love left.

[marciliedonato]

So... Apparently UA s4 is a massive flop.... I'm not saying we need to start bullying* showrunners and writers and networks/streamers (*putting pressure on them to do right by beloved pieces of media with passionate fan bases so much so that they feel they'll get the guillotine if they do anything less than perfect and justice by the story/characters) but.... We need to start bullying showrunners and writers and networks/streamers again. These mfs have gotten too comfortable

[creativesplat]

I would also like to see some miphlink, if that's okay!

I was really struggling with what to draw, and then I remembered your ask from ages ago (dang ADHD brain...) anyway, sorry its such a late answer, but Miphlink inspired by Dicksee's La Belle Dame

[ovaryacted]

Just wanted to say, I stayed home instead of going to work today cause of my dumbass cramps and I’m having the best time writing for General Marcus Acacius and his big fat cock. Love him BAADDDD. We’re out of the trenches y’all!

[tetzoro]

the day the earth stood still is the day i felt your presence leave it, and then every day after that.

[mushiemellows]

"wrapping the other person in the hoodie or jacket they are still wearing, so both of them can stay warm" + Sai/Baby 5, please?

I'm so sorry this took so long to answer, October was a crazy month. Also much thanks to @mangokabuto for help with Sai as a character.

For Sharing Clothes Prompt (I am interpreting the sentiment of hoodie/jacket in the form of cape)

The seas between Dressrosa and Kano were placid but freezing. Sai stood at the bow of his ship and wrapped his cape tighter around his chest to stave the cold away. It wasn’t working. Every time he blinked, he envisioned the hell he was about to receive when he told Uholisia that he’d be breaking off their political engagement. He assured himself it was fine, she had twenty five other husbands to go cry about it with.

“Excuse me?” A voice cautiously asked from behind. 

Sai whirled, shaking himself from his quiet fears. “What?” He hardened once more at the sight of his new-new fiancée. 

“I…brought you lunch. The rest of the crew already ate, but I noticed that you hadn’t yet so I…I wanted to bring you something,” Baby 5 blushed. Her eyes averted as she extended out a little bento for him to take. “Sorry, it isn’t much. I’ll do better next time.” 

He blinked, not having expected such a gesture. The container held a simple spread of rice, grilled fish, and pickled vegetables. “Why are you apologizing? This is alright.” 

“Alright?!” She brightened, “oh, wonderful. I used what you had on hand. But, honestly the only thing I’ve really been cooking for the last few years has been Lobster Thermidor every night for Doflamingo. Sorry your bento isn’t a full course lobster dinner.” 

“Wait, you made this?” Her fiancé asked, taking another bite. “I thought it was the cook’s. You didn’t have to do that, I can eat the same thing as the rest of my men. Army rations are army rations, no matter the rank.” 

“I-I know. But I wanted to make you something myself. I…I like cooking. I like when people tell me I’ve done a good job, and they tend to do that when they eat something they like.”

“That’s that battle instinct,” Sai chuckled. 

“What do you mean?”

“When I was a boy, my grandfather would only tell me I did a good job when I proved myself on the battle field. Even then, praise was kept to an absolute minimum. Big feelings were considered a sign of weakness, and I always got mad at myself for craving the positive response. So I fought harder, won tougher battles, just to hear him say anything. Eventually, though, it all stopped. My hard work became an assumption as I grew, rather than something to be encouraged. I’d been asking myself what it was all for, until recently.”

“And,” she hesitated, though she took a step toward him, “what was it all for?” 

“I think I’m just now starting to figure that part out. I don’t have to live for him anymore, happiness doesn’t have to be kept just out of reach. I’m realizing I can follow my own battle instinct. You can, too, if you want.” 

“I’d rather be a useful weapon in someone’s hand than an untouched decoration on a shelf,” Baby 5 shook her head. The wind blew, ruffling the thin fabric of her dress and making her shiver. 

Her fiancé gently encouraged her closer with a respectful hand to her shoulder. He brought his cape around to cover the both of them, a warm blanket in the icy sea. “I feel the same way. But maybe we don’t have to be someone else’s weapon. Maybe we can be our own? Do you think we could—we could find that joy in fighting for what makes us feel righteous?” 

She cozied a little closer to his chest, though her eyes stayed locked to the water. Cheeks burned hot enough to warm them both up. “I don’t even know where to begin,” the living weapon admitted. “I don’t know if I know what it means to be happy outside of being useful to others. If I’m not that, then I don’t know if I’m anything.” 

Sai nodded in slow agreement. “Well,” he eventually spoke, “would it be so bad to figure it out together?” 

“I think that would be nice, yes.” 

The pair stood, trying to find their warmth in the middle of a winter breeze, clinging to what they could. Silence engulfed them like the cape over their shoulders, but they each savored the long-awaited moment of peace. A new battle was just beginning. A battle of their own choosing. 

“Baby 5?” Sai broke the frozen quiet after a long minute. 

She looked up at him, eyes wide, “hm?” 

“I’m happy you didn’t pull the trigger, and I’m excited to see what sort of life you lead now that you’re free.” 

"I think I'm actually happy, too."

[ladyhoneydarlinglove]

blunt force comfort — zoro & jinbe

(DOS zoro fics esta semana?? en ESTA economia?? es más probable de lo que crees!)

{previous chapters: nami | usopp | sanji | chopper | robin | franky | brook | luffy }

LAST CHAPTER LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Also just a head's up: I'm only going to be linking to Ao3 for this chapter instead of putting it under a read more since it's about three times longer than all the others. Cause it's not really about Jinbe; s'about Zoro :)))

Rating: G Notes: Takes place sometime between Wano and Egghead. I am definitely playing kind of fast and loose with some of Jinbe's background and the timeline between Thriller Bark and whenever he was imprisoned in Impel Down, but nothing I did is explicitly contradicted by the canon (I think), so let's just roll with it shall we?

Jinbe is more than content to settle into his new role as the helmsman of the Straw Hat Pirates when the time comes. He’s never considered himself a natural born leader; only stepped in as Captain for the Sun Pirates because Fisher Tiger asked him to, only became a Warlord to protect his fellow fishmen. When Jinbe wields power, it comes from a sense of duty rather than ambition, which in many ways is a far heavier burden to bear. It’s easy to be selfish when ambitious, but duty goes hand in hand with service, and sacrifice.

{Read the rest on Ao3}

[fleouriarts]

quadeca fanart, based on scrapyard II promo pictures taken by brendon burton (@burtoo). ref pic here, timelapse here

detail shots of quadeca and the red car since it's a big piece:

originally finished 10-27-2023

[foursidecity]

Girls when they should be coding their personal website but are instead looking longingly at the psychonauts web archive

[whoopseydaisy]

On Witches, Wizards, and Wild Ones: A Conspiracy Board from the Walls of the Witch of the Wondering Path

Ahoohoo and crackle crackle!

This is an attempt of untangling some threads, stretching out their red yarn and connecting one thing to another or maybe to nothing at all. A series of notes and questions on what we know, what we may know so far, or at the very least what we have been told. The purpose is mostly to try and determine who might be behind the assassination attempt of the station of the Witch of the World’s Heart, before the Coven of Elders convenes, but also some other stuff, because these sorts of things balloon out quite quickly when one is combing through transcripts for clues. And also a dragon??

I shall analyze and speculate from what we have been told, knowing some inconsistencies may be characters concealing truths, interpreting them differently, or that some inconsistencies will be born of this beautiful improvisational medium. I will also do so knowing that Brennan is playing a long game, setting up characters and plot threads for a future he does not entirely know yet.

Settle in with your warm drinks and campfire blankets everyone, this is 12 page paper. 

THE CURSE(S)

There are several appearances of curses in both the Children’s Adventure and the first arc, often characterized by an exhalation of dark smoke. 

In the Children’s Adventure: While not confirmed as a curse, when Grandmother Wren leaves (to a meeting with friends that the wizards don’t know about, to see where the missing Eoighorain might be) to what is presumably a meeting with the Coven of Elders, she returns with a bandage tied around her forearm. But it does not look too horrifying and it is not soaked with blood. She describes the trip as eventful and necessary. (Possibly at the castle of Indri, the Witch of the Wind and Stars, as the conclave will be the second meeting there in a century.)

In episode 8, 2 days before Steel arrives to bring Suvi home, Grandmother Wren returns to the cottage after leaving to try and figure out why Soft and Stone have not come yet. She went to a place that they had told her was safe, and someone was there waiting to hurt her. Grandmother Wren tells Suvi “They’re gone now.”

Grandmother Wren looks ill; her hair is white and her hand is described as black and red and withered, burnt and cracking with blood streaming down from a wound that can’t set. Her breath is ragged, weak, and quick. The curse is described to Eursulon as not strong, but clever. He also learns that the curse uses her pain to keep the itself in place; that it gets stronger the more she tries to feel and deal with the pain. 

After the children work together to trap the curse and heal Grandmother Wren, Suvi recognizes the mist of wizardly teleportation magic outside. The girls just barely see Grandmother Wren’s footprints outside the door, but do not see anyone else’s, nor any other signs of entry. Suvi is able to tell that the magic is not Grandmother Wren’s. 

After investigating this caught curse, which Grandmother Wren at first believed was the work of the wizard, she determines the curse was expecting a wizard, and did not believe its origins were of this realm. She also says it should have killed her, but it didn’t, because they were expecting someone else. 

I was surprised re-listening that Grandmother Wren believed this portion of the curse expected a wizard. I think this curse may have been on an item capable of teleportation magic (no second set of footprints) perhaps meant for Soft and Stone, but when its target became Grandmother Wren, a contingent effect was triggered, or this is another curse altogether perhaps mingling with the larger curse on both her and Ame. Grandmother Wren thought Soft and Stone were spending the summer trying to find out who their true friends were - perhaps the Coven of Elders were also testing who they could trust. While “They’re gone now. Do you understand?” implies Grandma Wren whooping their ass 6 ft under the ground, she hadn’t figured out who cast it yet at that point, which leads me to believe that they were not present. The origin not being of this realm makes me think the origin of the curse is The Stranger.

In Ep 01: 

Here we discover the larger curse on both Grandmother Wren and Ame, when they realize a curse has robbed Ame of her memories and knowledge, of her station and of who she could trust and prevents Grandmother Wren from telling her about the Coven of Elders  or calling herself the Witch of the World’s Heart. Grandmother Wren breaks through the curse (but not breaking it proper) as it tries to “stop the coronation” by willing the house, and all that is hers to Ame. 

After, Brennan tells us “Grandmother Wren can no longer speak as she concentrates on magic, she has not fought off this curse”

Taro addresses the Granddaughters of Wren and tells them “The curse is powerful, but the secrets that Wren shared still live. You have been cursed too” and then, speaking of Wavebreaker, “But there is a key, a key to find where they are being kept, and a key to cut them free when found. There is a source with the power to disenchant and scry”

GrandaughterS of Wren - is Suvi afflicted by any part of the curse, or was Taro’s “you” only addressing Ame? Taro also says Wavebreaker has the power to find where the secrets are being kept, and the power to scry but this is not currently reflected in the statblock…but more on that later when we talk about the Stranger’s possible connection to Wavebreaker. 

We also learn in Episode 15, once Ame recovers her memories, that the Stranger had attacked Grandmother Wren at the Grove of the Well— a place sacred to the Coven of Elders, a month prior to her bed rest. She also tells Ame “For some time now, since you were a very little girl, in fact, he has been moving upon our world in a way that I cannot quite see.

Is part of the curse helping to obscure The Pilgrim Under the Stars, The Man in Black, The King of Night, The Stranger from Grandmother Wren? Did he start moving in such a way shortly after she took in Ame as her apprentice (which she was “cutting a bit close”) and the succession of her station was in the process of being secured, not going the way of either Scalvi, the Witch of the Watching Fire or Oruna, the Witch of the Wide Blue Sea? 

In Ep 14: 

In episode 14 when Eursulon breaks the curse on Ame we are told “Whatever entity placed this curse on Grandmother Wren and Ame put a spell so nasty that it was standing in front of successive contingent effects. That there’s like, a nested series of spells within Ame, and you’re excising all of them. But the big one that Ame was aware of was hiding some others” 

The curse afflicting Grandmother Wren at the end of summer, seems to be the larger curse affected both her and Ame. The children only excised and trapped one part of many of the curse. 

The curse is described as something sliding and clicking, liquid poison filled with a puzzle, turning from the inside, made of shadow. something that twists and rotates and expands and pierces. The curse is also holding onto something as it leaves - Ame is able to grab and safekeep the knowledge the curse attempts to steal from her on a Nat 20 wisdom save, and then collapses to the ground and expectorates black bile that smells of iron and blood, like Eoighorain, with a 9 on her constitution save. Her breathing remains strong, not ragged (unlike Grandmother Wren). We are told, through Suvi’s identify spell, that the bile is not the curse itself, but was behind the curse - something hidden there, meant to kill Ame if the curse were to be broken

Does the bile smell of Eoighorain because its a contribution he made to the curse (he is a known entity to the Coven of Elders), or a signifier of a power both he and Ame are affected by? We learn later, in Episode 16 when Steel discusses Eoighorain with Suvi, that this smell is not common amongst shapeshifter’s, but a scent she has only ever smelled from him. 

When Steel arrives she says that the longer Ame remains in her unconscious state, the more whoever created this spell would be able to track her. 

More on this in the next section- but is that why Indri, the Witch of the Wind and Stars was able to send a message to Ame in the Citadel so easily?

THE COVEN OF ELDERS

In Episode 23, Mr. Soup tells us that Grandmother Wren was at odds with the Coven for many years— there was a plan she did not want to go along with, and had been searching for a long time to find a way to convince her sisters to do something else. We also see glimpses of this in Episode 15 in Grandmother Wren’s conversation with Mirara, the Witch of the Waning Moon. It’s a safe guess that this disagreement has to do with Wizards and the Citadel. 

What Sly has divined regarding the upcoming Conclave (which we are told in glorious metatheatrical fashion in Episode 23 that “All things occurring as they have been seen. With perhaps one or two tricks, just to keep the story interesting.”)

That if Ame does not go to the North Pole in 3 days, the Coven will meet without her and that they will try to destroy her and in doing so the stations of Witch of the World’s Heart

One of them will make an argument that Ame’s existence threatens the nature of magic in Umora. The majority of times Ame wins that argument, it is because magically if they were to get rid of her station they would probably have to get rid of another. 

If Suvi is not there as her advisor, Ame will die

We also know from Grandmother Wren that there is much the coven can do without full unanimity (but presumably would be far less powerful to do so), and the Coven is bound by laws of mutual respect and there will be tremendous repercussions if one insinuates that any of the other stations are not incredibly significant to the nature of magic itself. 

But which of the members of the Coven of Elders might want the station of the Witch of the World’s Heart gone the most? WHO IS IN CAHOOTS? Is The Stranger involved? Is Eoighorain? Who has the most against wizards?

Marara, the Witch of the Waning Moon (Mirara? The transcripts use both spellings.)

The death of light, the end of might, the all consuming dread of night. 

This is the obvious first suspect. 

If that’s not a witch well on the pathway to wickedness, I don’t know what is.

The Witch subclass says of The Coven of the Wicked: “Members of this coven like to paint themselves as misunderstood victims, but it’s not tragedy that turns a witch’s heart to darkness—it’s the inability to let go of their suffering. A wicked witch might claim to be an enemy to all the world, but they always have one kind of person in particular—usually related to their past self, and what soured their magic—that they despise above all else. When you become wicked, choose a virtue that is anathema to you: courage, fairness, generosity, innocence, loyalty, kindness, optimism, prudence, selflessness, or being in love. Beings that display this virtue are especially tempting targets for your ire.”

Like…you can’t have a piece of such juicy and gorgeous and cool design like the Coven of Wicked (and the rehabilitation therein) and not have a wicked witch in your story! 

Additionally, Marara’s domain is the Witch of the Waning Moon. The death of light, the end of might, the all consuming dread of night. The moon wanes as it goes from full to new. When Ame meets her on the road, to light her way to the cottage, the harbinger of her arrival is a candle on the verge of going out. 

Mirara’s domain speaks to cycles, to the fall of the mighty and to the fear of the unknown. It is also of the night, possibly putting her in natural cahoots with The King of Night who also hates wizards. The conversation he has with Eursulon and the conversation Ame sees in the water between Marara and Grandmother Wren, both in Episode 23, certainly mirror each other. 

She is also often accompanied by wind, which speaks to Indri’s domain, the Wind and Stars, another one of night.

Indri, the Witch of the Wind and Stars

Of frost and stone, of ice and throne, the ruler of the self alone.

Indri’s domain is the wind and stars, a domain that also overlaps with an appellation of the Pilgrim Under the Stars.  In the letter to Ame she tells her she knew Ame has assumed her station from how the stars aligned. She has an apprentice we know little of. She also did the most to reach out to Ame to arrange a meeting. 

Did she reach out to Ame so it was more likely she would attend the Conclave? 

The ice fairies say when they find Ame and Suvi in the bathroom, “long lancing spells and vexing hexes of old were made to pierce and plunder through the guises and guile of wizards”

Were they able to reach her because Ame was easier to track when she was unconscious under Indri’s spellwork? Is it because she does not like wizards and is practiced at secretly penetrating their defences? The ice fairies were particularly silly, one being evidently foolish. Were they perhaps sent by Indri by way of her apprentice, who is lonely and excited to meet another Great Apprentice? “Hexes of old” does imply that Indri may be practiced at getting through Citadel defences. 

Does Indri have any pull over celestial movements? When discussing that summer and Eoighorain with Suvi, Steel says “all of that changed as the celestial path shifted ever so slightly. And that slight slight shift meant that all of a sudden, you could teleport anywhere, pretty much unstoppable, very easily.” Grandma Wren also speaks of stars to Ame like they  have personalities. Could Indri have eased the way for the eras of easy teleportation? Did she ever go on long and friendly flights among the stars with Grandma Wren? Is her witchcraft more divinatory? I think Indri falls on the side of wanting to stop wizards, but something in my gut says she does not want to see Ame dead. 

Hacaea, the Witch of the Woodland Green

The holly branch, the towering oak, the limb and leaf an thorn her folk.

We know little of Hacaea so far, but I think she’s absolutely in cahoots mostly because she would have perhaps one of the greatest motives to hate wizards and want them gone, on account of the whole them turning a great forest into a huge snowy, mirror-y desert and a wizard tower who’s aerith depository is probably doing kind of fucked up stuff to the biome. We know she does not have an apprentice and I think Brennan singling her out as the one Ame could imagine hanging out with was in part was that it would hurt more when she’s in ASSASSINATION CAHOOTS. Might have sent Ame the letter on bark.

Grimoire, the Witch of the Wild Hunt

Where beasts have tread and monsters fed, the bloody fang and maw hath led. 

We also do not know much about Grimoire. We know she has an apprentice, and has so far been characterised as much more feral and concerned with catching and eating things. She might have also sent Ame a letter on bark. I think there is more with her connection to monsters and possibly to Gaothmai, and Eoighorain?? Certainly there is more to her than meets the ear. Again I think Brennan could have been trying to be tricky in his comments about her, trying to make her seem less important early on than she will be.

THE STRANGER

Who has held his breath since the dawn of time, the Pilgrim Under Stars, the Man in Black, the King of Night. Who attacked Grandmother Wren at the Grove of the Well and who has been moving across the world in a way Grandmother Wren could not see since Ame was a very little girl, who came to the cottage the moment after Grandmother Wren passed when the station was at its most vulnerable and requested entry, and who does not like wizards. 

The strings I am most interesting in detangling here, are his possible connection to Wavebreaker, and his connection to roads which we know are incredibly significant to Grandmother Wren’s wards.

In Episode 7 of Children’s Adventure after the cast each takes a turn describing a detail of Wavebreaker Brennan narrates “So you have this moment together in the hottest days of summer as this suit of armor hands you this thing”. The next scene, after taking a moment to roll some ability scores, is at night.

Suvi then rolls a 3 on a perception check, “So with a three in perception, you look and see that you were mistaken. You look deeper at the shadow and it's just a shadow. But it was a scary shape from one of the trees”

Ame investigates the spot the next day.

Taro had said back in Episode 01 “It will help you find whatever is keeping these secrets, and perhaps whoever took them.” What if that connection goes both ways for a powerful spirit with so many titles? One who has taken care to obscure himself from Grandmother Wren?

In Episode 23 once Eursulon entered the fire, eventually travelling from the Citadel to actual Gaothmai, the Stranger caught up to him enough to have a conversation real fast. 

As evidenced above (if that figure of shadow is indeed The Stranger, but the point still stands anyways) he is also connected to the motif of roads. 

The final line of Episode 01 (which as the last line from the first episode, carries extra emphasis):

From episode 21:

From episode 22:

But in speaking of roads we must remember,

The iron shoe of horses. 3 iron nails sprung out of a signpost. Could a connection to the Stranger cause Eoighorain’s blood to smell like iron?

EOIGHORAIN

In my folders of screenshots, within the one labelled conspiracy, this one is named “the unexplained Eoighorain fragment.” As I mentioned before, Brennan is playing the long game- placing pieces on the board, but he could not yet know all the ways they could move. Eoighorain is placed like a question mark, with great manoeuvrability. He could go one way or another. Too many NPCs think him untrustworthy and it makes me wonder if he is the flashy distraction of a magic trick so we don’t see what the other hand is doing. 

This one goes down a few rabbit holes. 

We learn much about Eoighorain in episode 16 from Suvi and Steel’s conversation but also, from the diagrams (which are 150 years old, made in the first 50 years of the Citadel) of garrans, which are a creature of the world of spirit. We learn that Eoighorain’s name means “Of Garran” or “Son of Garran” and that iron was always at the forefront of his smell, with the party speculating that the iron is perhaps used to bind him. 

In Episode 15 Grandmother Wren tells Ame she has doubts about how loyal Eoighorain ended up being. Steel tells Suvi in episode 16 that she discovered recently, in the weeks preceding the start of the campaign proper, that Eoighorain was alive, and this is why she sent the books including the diagrams made to smell like him to Grandmother Wren, in an act of admitting defeat and hoping she would be able to find him where she could not. 

She says she saw him at Fort Keiran, doubts herself, and then sounds sure.

Why was Eoighorain at Fort Keiran? Because the revolutionary forces of Gaothmai are fighting the Citadel? Because he is working with the Cauntaranacht now and perhaps always was? A secret third thing? Was it even him after all? Was Steel about to say that exact same scent? Was their revolution successful and so their forces hold much more power in Gaothmai now? Is that one of the reasons the war is spinning up again? 

We see Gaothmai ourselves only briefly, in Episode 23. Eursulon, after falling and landing in an unfamiliar deep forest, meets monsters caught somewhere between spirit and mortal, left to fester— simian feline monstrosities, somewhere between a baboon and a panther with diseased scaly and mottled hide. Brennan describes it like a yard with attack dogs in it, who attack because of his citadel badge and who eventually leads him to Kalaya. 

(And sidebar I think he sees a dragon?? Is the war spinning up again because of a dragon? Was part of the Coven’s plan raising a dragon to raze the Citadel and everyone else? Was that how the world burned before? I just realized now that Eursulon saw a dragon and I am spinning up about it for sure.)

But back to Eoighorain, and Steel thinking that he caused the death of Soft and Stone, who Steels tells us were prolific double agents with connections in both Rhuv and Gaothmai that pay dividends to this day. 

Grandmother Wren tells Ame in Episode 15 that Eoighorain was one of the outside members of the Citadel to alert the Acadator to the presence of agencies, jokingly referred to as the League of Whispers, which were dedicated to the downfall of the Citadel from within. She also says “When Steel came to collect Suvi at the end of that summer, the primary targets of their investigation were dead or missing.”

Additionally in the Children’s Adventure:

Steel tells us in Episode 16 that the mission Soft and Stone were on the summer that they died was searching for a dangerous sorceress named Nahani. This was the first time that instead of her and Eoighorain protecting Soft and Stone, he alone was charged with their safety. When Steel returned to collect Suvi she came back with scars on her face, and a new cloak. 

Why was Steel left behind? Was she needed by the Citadel elsewhere? A matter of trust? Is she telling the truth? Did Soft and Stone leave Steel behind so she would not know they were possibly acting against the Citadel? Because they knew she would not betray it? Was she really not there, or is that a cover up? Is guilt one of the forces that pulled her to be mother to Suvi? I don’t really think she killed them but I am not discounting that possibility.

I think Steel believes this wholeheartedly, but I don’t for a second.

Stone is a very prolific abjurer, who also studied divination. Just saying.

Additionally, 

This little nugget in Gaothmai perked my ears up the first time it was said. Ket, you say? Like Suvirin Kedberiket? Like Aman Kedberiket? THAT WAS A CHOICE BRENNAN. IN A WORLD WHERE NAMES ARE VERY IMPORTANT, IN A CULTURE WHERE NAMES ARE KEPT SECRET. IN A NATION SOFT WAS A DOUBLE AGENT FOR. WHO, 2 YEARS BEFORE SUVI WAS BORN, FREED A NUMBER OF SPIRITS, ONE OF WHOM WAS KALAYA, WHO THEN SETTLED DOWN IN GAOTHMAI. AND HE HAS A COLLEAGUE WHO IS THEORETICALLY A REVOLUTIONARY FROM THERE. A COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT. Anyways I think Soft is from Gaothmai. 

In conclusion: ?????????????????? I’m really excited for arc 3 because I really love witches and I don’t really know what up with Eoighorain, and I adore but do not trust Steel (but what else is new) and I do think there’s a dragon in Gaothmai apparently?? And I think The Stranger has a connection to Wavebreaker and I think Soft is from Gaothmai and I really don’t know if I can trust Indri or not but I hope we meet her apprentice and some more ice fairies. 

[ursachaotic]

my hyperfixation right now is violently going back and forth between gravity falls and arcane and i'm also working on my original story so i just. MY FOCUS RIGHT NOW IS JUST SOUP THERE IS NO FOCUS I CAN'T DECIDE WHAT TO DRAW ASDHFOASDIH HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DRAW THINGS IN THIS ECONOMY LMAO

(anyway hi i'm trying to get back into drawing lmao i want to draw more original stuff again and i'm kind offfffff working on a design update to my oc trevor so yippee)

[javierduffy]

I'm in the middle of writing a javieran piece and it's got me thinking because by chapter 4, Hosea and Dutch are arguing more often than not, John is starting to pay more attention to his family, and Arthur is beginning to express his doubts more. So like if Javier and Kieran WERE in a relationship (and assuming Kieran lives, but this would still apply somewhat if he was dead) Dutch would be quaking in his boots and may even try to drive a wedge between them because if JAVIER starts to notice the cracks in the gang and focuses more on his relationship Dutch is done for. What do you think?

(this isn't very articulate I just woke up lmao)

ohh this is such a good idea … i’ve never really thought about how the rest of the gang would react to (and subsequently interact with) javier and kieran being together … personally i would think dutch could only start to really care (and become increasingly paranoid about it) if kieran were to survive. yes, by early chapter 4, dutch was already distrustful of john because john was distrustful of him after blackwater, but he only really “cut him loose” in his mind post-jack retrieval, when john really started, in dutches words, “playing family”. only by then does dutch really start to become increasingly more comfortable with entertaining the idea of exiling john from the gang, as seen by his several counts of threateningly reminding john that the first rule of VDL’s is that the gang comes first. meaning, once dutch lessens that influence of caring about john, he now has more berth in his mind to focus on and worry about other gang members. not to say that dutch wouldn’t have already considered the threat of javieran’s partnership, as dutch van der linde is the king of laying awake at night thinking about how all his loved ones can (and “probably” will) betray him, but i don’t think he’d truly be able to concoct a story in which he doesn’t come out on top, so he leaves it alone initially.

but if kieran were to be dragged into camp, one way or another, half dead and with an army of o’driscolls not too far behind him, dutch may now see this as the chess board being shuffled and the javieran side of it now having the upper hand. not so much in the sense that kieran has played any hand himself out of malice, but if he seems to be so important to colm o’driscoll that he’s willing to follow him out to a backwater corner in a shithole swamp just to kill him, then dutch now feels more comfortable with the idea of seeing kieran as baggage, or even a threat by proxy. plus, he sees how desperately javier is trying to settle the unease and distrust that is spreading in camp- several times has he rallied a campfires’ worth of people to continue trusting and believing in dutch. dutch knows exactly how valuable javier’s loyalty is, not only in his manpower, but also in his heart, and you’re right that he wouldn’t want to lose that. in dutches perspective, john’s seemingly solidified betrayal, followed by the o’driscoll attack, hosea’s death, and the trolly, i honestly think it would be in, and immediately after, guarma that dutch would begin to set his sights on impeding javieran’s partnership.

by this point, javier has a severely weakened sense of self, purpose, and safety due to the chaos of so many fatal failures in rapid succession for the VDL’s, while also having a powerfully bolstered sense of duty, trust, and loyalty to dutch because of how he committed to saving javier’s life before getting off of guarma (while arthur saw the worst of him there, javier was locked in a cage, so he’s no more privy to his leader’s downward spiral than he was before). so pairing this state of mind of javier’s with the way that kieran essentially lead the o’driscolls straight to them, it’s the perfect in for dutch to start trying to worm his way into javier’s mind about how kieran may not be “who he thinks”. now, i’ve seen a few documentaries on dutch, but i’m certainly no specialist, so i can’t settle on how exactly he would go about proposing doubt into javier’s mind. i could see him projecting things onto javi, convincing him into believing that it’s potential that he sees in kieran, and not what he actually provides. or perhaps similar to how grimshaw sees the threat in mary to arthur’s loyalty and attempts manipulation accordingly, dutch may not even pull javier aside but simply start speaking to his boat of disheveled followers on the way back from the island, saying “you know, we lost a few good men back there, and are mending a few more. that o’driscoll ambush was the last thing we needed- and that kieran, i never did like him.” simply to knowingly leave javier deflated, conflicted, and left separated from his lover long enough to let the love in his heart get muddled in the chaos.

by here, it could be written two different ways, depending on where your javier lies in his distance from canon LOL “canonically” (not that it could be, by now, since kieran must be alive, but let’s say that’s the only thing that changed and we aren’t going to diverge the ending itself any further), javier would fall for dutches tongue, and his relationship would eventually fall apart. kieran would notice immediately that javier’s heart was no longer with him, and it would quickly go downhill from there- in my opinion, kieran would then abandon the gang like a few of the other members prior to the climax shootout, and javier would make it there with just an extra ounce of grief in his heart, going on to flee to mexico like normal.

the OTHER outcome, and how i would write it personally because canon is simply something for me to clock in and out of as i please, is that javier’s conflictions are just a smidgen less due to that little ounce more free kieran makes him feel compared to the current state of the gang, (and no matter what, if he has to fight, he’ll fight, if he has to run, he’ll run. if he has to die, he’ll die. but he’ll stay free. yes, i am bastardizing this quote towards individuality.) and he manages to break free of dutches delusional influence- with dutches attempt at splitting javieran up being the thing that gave javier the courage to doubt him. javier owes dutch his life, and he knows this, but by chapter 6, javier’s love and the purpose he’s found outside of the gang (with kieran), like john’s (for his family) and arthur’s (for john), gives him the clarity to choose that over blindly following dutch off of the cliff. usually it’s around this time that i write him to flee, off to go find kieran again and choose him again, for the last time, once and for all.

i do think this is a very fun thing to speculate on !! thank you for sharing with me and for asking my opinion on it :’] it makes me very happy that you wanted to hear it !!! i agree with you that dutch could very well begin to see javieran as a threat against him, especially with john’s “betrayal” happening right before his very eyes stinging him already. it would be very easy to conclude that dutch would want to begin meddling in any relationships that aren’t between people whom he knows won’t question him- and kieran was never really loyal to him at all. if anything, it’s arthur he’s loyal to, what with how he thanks arthur profusely for sparing, protecting, and improving his life overall. dutch is smart enough to know that if he can convince javier to shake kieran, he’ll stay a valuable pawn on dutches side of the board no matter what, because then he’ll have nothing else again.

please please please do let me know when you’re finished writing it !!! i would be ecstatic to read it, i’m living on crumbs over here <//3

[petrichal]

obligatory "Oda thank you for sharing this world with us" post

[saberdramon]

i still don't know if im writing them in-character and it's bothering me immensely. but im going to continue balling until this has taken a shape im happy to release to the wild

[moonjellyfishumbrella]

I LOVE READING ACTUALLY I LOVE WRITERS I LOVE THEN THEY CREATE

If you are an ace attorney fan and have finished the main storyline and are waiting for the drop next year (or just dont mind spoilers i guess) you need to read 'and the tree was happy' by zombiekittiez

I love writers and their writing i hope op releases some sort of novel i hope they have and idk it yet this was FANTASTIC. Not to he that person i think this can be annoying at times but like... this is The ace attorney fanfiction, coming from someone whos been reading them since middle school i think. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY JEEZ WOW WOW WOW WOW i feel enlightened

I feel like i have ascended

I was listening to Esperanza Spalding while reading this so this feels biblical honesty

I love being reminded of why i love writing and literary works and AAAAA my heart swelled this was so good

If you're an AA fan you just have to read it its the law and for your own good